Finally, OCZ has ditched the faux (Marvell controller & OCZ firmware) Indilinx controlled Vertex 4 and replaced it with the splendid Indilinx Barefoot 3 controller we first had a look at in the impressive Vector series drive. They’ve paired it with 20nm flash hardware and a smaller form factor for what we’d consider a major product improvement. It’s known as the Vertex 450 and it may just be your next SSD.
WD today released the My Passport Ultra line of portable hard drives aimed at consumers that want the safest and easiest way to protect their digital content while traveling. We have the 1 TB WD My Passport Ultra portable hard drive with WD SmartWare Pro backup software with Dropbox integration and put it to the test.
A 4TB hard drive offers a ton of storage space and is rather affordable ($180-$300) despite the fact that only HGST, Seagate and Western Digital (WD) make 4TB drives. We managed to get our hands on 4TB drives from WD and Seagate and will be comparing them against each other to see which has the best bang for the buck. The WD Black and Seagate Desktop HDD.15 are both 4TB drives with 64MB of cache, but we are going to put them to the test to see which one is right for you.
If you’ve been waiting for the time when a near 1TB SSD has a reasonable cost per GB price tag, Crucial may have something for you. Their new M500 series has drives available from 120GB to 960GB and feature the latest iteration of the Marvell controller and some updated architecture to match. Have a read to see how well it compares to the latest drives from other makers.
We’ve had a look at a few different mSATA drives lately and coincidentally, all have been SandForce SF-2281 based. Now we have a turn at Transcends latest line of mSATA drives which also feature the SF-2281 controller. This sets up a nice comparison for us to perform our evaluation so have a look at what we found in our latest storage review.
The Vertex line from OCZ has a long tradition of strong performance and helped to vault OCZ to one of the leaders in the SSD arena. So it’s no surprise that they’ve soldiered on with the Vertex line by updating the third generation equipped with the SF-2281 controller to work in tandem with 20nm NAND. Thus, the Vertex 3.20 is born and we then try to beat it to death on our test bench.
Hard drives with solid state cache storage, also known as hybrid drives, have been around for awhile. They are popular with laptop users but until now, those that have equipment designed to work only with 7mm high drives have been out of luck. Seagate’s latest SSHD has been redesigned to a smaller, 7mm form factor as well as improved performance. See how it compares to the previous generation Momentus XT drive.
Do you have a ton of USB 3.0 devices and happen to be looking for a 10-port hub? Satechi recently announced a 10-Port USB 3.0 Hub that is a useful, multipurpose Mac or PC accessory that allows users to connect a wide array of devices including digital cameras, printers, external hard drives, keyboards, flash drives, smartphones and tablets in one easy solution. Read on to find out more about it!
The StarTech S2510BU3PW USB 3.0 HDD Enclosure features Touchpad Encryption, enabling you to turn almost any 2.5-inch SATA storage drive into an AES-encrypted external hard drive. If you are looking for a way to protect your portable data from unauthorized users this might be just what you are looking for! Read on to learn more about this enclosure and how it performs!
Once again we have a look at an mSATA drive, this time from Mushkin. The Atlas Deluxe 30GB drive may be small in capacity and stature, but with the SandForce SF-2281 controller on board, it stands tall. To see how much so, we put it up against the formidable Intel 525 Series of mSATA drives. Take a peek at the article to see how well it fared!
So you bought a tablet or smart phone and have buyer’s remorse because you’re realizing it doesn’t quite have the capacity you need. Not to worry, Kingston has a product coming up that should fill that need. It’s a mobile wireless SD card/USB reader and effectively makes your storage limited only by your availability of SD cards or USB drives! Have a look at our preview of this upcoming product!
SSDs have slowly started shrinking in form factor from 2.5″ with 9.5mm height to 7mm height and now the biggest reduction in size of all, the mSATA drive. These diminutive drives pack the same performance punch as their larger counterparts complete with a 6Gbps interface but will fit in devices that 2.5″ drives have no chance of fitting. Intel set us up with five different capacities of their new 525 Series mSATA drives so come have a look to see how they compare.
Are you looking for an external hard drive that is thin for easy portability? The ADATA DashDrive Elite HE720 is the world’s thinnest USB 3.0 external hard drive at just 8.9mm thick. That is slim enough to easily fit in your pant pocket, purse or laptop bag! This 500GB external hard drive also features a “One touch backup” function which automatically backs up and synchronizes data. ADATA sent over the ADATA DashDrive Elite HE720 500GB external HDD for to check out, so read on to learn more about it and to see how it performs!
Samsung has positioned themselves as a power player in the consumer SSD market which really began with their very successful 830 Series drives. Recently they’ve released two versions of the new 840 Series – one for each the budget and enthusiast demographics. The 840 brings modest performance with outstanding power consumption while the 840 Pro brings top-shelf performance. Will the 840 Pro be able to bring it to edge out the OCZ Vector drive?
SanDisk has released their Ultra Plus line of SSDs just in time for the new year. They feature a Marvell controller and some interesting technologies to help performance. Targeted for the mid-level consumer, these won’t be peaking any of our benchmark charts but still offers up some nice performance. To get the low down on the performance, have a look at the article.
